Barnsley East is a constituency in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

, represented since 2017 by Stephanie Peacock of the Labour Party.

Constituency profile

The seat covers the south-east suburbs of Barnsley and former coal mining areas such as Hoyland, Darfield and Wombwell. Its residents are poorer than the UK average.

History

The seat was created as Barnsley East in 1983 and abolished to create Barnsley East and Mexborough in 1997. It was recreated as Barnsley East at the 2010 general election. Eight candidates competed for the seat in the 2010 general election; however, the largest two opposition parties failed to gain more than 18.2% each and the winning candidate

Michael Dugher Michael Vincent Dugher (pronounced ; born 26 April 1975) is a former British Labour politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley East at the 2010 general election. He has held several senior positions within the par ...

managed to obtain 47% of all votes despite the presence of a candidate from the Socialist Labour Party. Although the percentage decline in the Labour vote was the largest in the country (at nearly 24%), they still won the seat safely. In 2017, Stephanie Peacock succeeded Dugher as MP for Barnsley East. Both between 1983 and 1997, and at the 2010 general election, this constituency has been a safe seat for the Labour Party, as indeed was its temporary replacement, Barnsley East and Mexborough. After the 2019 general election however, this constituency became a marginal seat, with Labour's vote share dropping by 21.9% and their majority cut to just 8.4%.

Boundaries

1983–1997: The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Brierley, Cudworth, Darfield, Dearne South, Dearne Thurnscoe, Wombwell North, and Wombwell South. 2010–present: The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley wards of Cudworth, Grimethorpe, Darfield, Hoyland Milton, North East, Rockingham, Stairfoot, Wombwell, and Worsbrough. Following their review of parliamentary representation in

for the 2010 general election, the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for ...

divided the existing Barnsley East and Mexborough seat to split off Barnsley East from Mexborough, to create the new Barnsley East constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1983–1997

MPs since 2010

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 1990s

Following the death of Terry Patchett on 11 October 1996, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held on 12 December 1996. The replacement Labour candidate Jeff Ennis held the seat for the party despite a low voter turnout.

Elections in the 1980s

Notes

References

Sources

BBC Election 2005BBC Vote 2001
(Election results from 1992 to the present) {{Authority control Politics of Barnsley Parliamentary constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1997 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010